Market Place

Digital Access

Home Delivery

Want to make sure you receive the latest local news? We’ve got you covered! Get the best in local news, sports, community events, with focus on what’s coming up for the weekend. Weekly mail subscription offers

Five candidates seek three spots on Waubonsee board

Voters will chose from five candidates for three spots on the Waubonsee Community College Board of Trustees on April 9.

Incumbents Richard Bodie and Richard Dickson and newcomers Isaac Wilson, L. Michael Konen and Emmett Bonfield will face off in the consolidated election. Those elected will serve a term of four years.

Dickson, of Bristol, has served on the Waubonsee Community College board for more than 30 years. He said he wants to continue to contribute to the educational success of district students and keep Waubonsee as one of the community’s greatest assets, he said.

“The school is running well, and we’d like to keep it running well,” he said. “I think we’ve done a good job as a board, a faculty, an administration, everybody. We must be doing something right.”

Bodie, of Aurora, has served on the board since 1998 and calls Waubonsee Community College an “incredible institution.” He said it is important to him that he not only attend all of the meetings, but that he is well-prepared for them.

“I keep abreast,” he said. “I read, and I’m very attentive at meetings and I’m not afraid to speak up.”

Bonfield, of Yorkville, never has run for political office, but thinks it is time for a new set of eyes on the board.

“I’m running because I think I can make a difference,” he said, adding he’d focus on improving the degree attainment rate and training of displaced workers. “I think I have new ideas, new energies that could improve that.”

Bonfield said his practical common sense and energy would be an asset to a board he said spends too much time in executive session.

Konen, of Sugar Grove, has 13 years of work experience at Waubonsee Community College (1994-2007) as a custodian and then a maintenance mechanic.

“I’m at the grassroots level,” he said. “I have more of a feel for how all the departments work. ... While you’re there, you interact with the departments, and you talk to people.”

Konen added Waubonsee needs to do more in terms of helping entrepreneurs get started and helping people learn new skills to get to work.

“As a farmer involved in agribusiness, I understand fiscal responsibility,” he said. “In addition, my work experience at WCC has given me an insider’s perspective on the day-to-day operations of the college.”

Wilson, of Aurora, did not respond to requests for comment.

Get the Kane County Crime Report

Keep up with the latest in crime and courts with the weekly Kane County Crime Report newsletter.